ABOUT BOOK

"The purpose of this chapter is twofold. Firstly, a rather paradoxical situation ~will be discussed. Even though most military practitioners seem to agree ~on the characteristics of war, two almost diametrically-opposed norms for how to ~samhandle have arisen: a centralized one and a decentralized one. We argue that the ~decentralized approach, called Auftragstaktik, is the most effective. In the second ~part of the chapter we discuss the pedagogical challenge of educating personnel to ~thrive in a decentralized organization, which must operate effectively in unforeseen ~and threatening environments. Based on the teachings of Moltke the Elder (1800– ~1891) and the much more recent writings of Torgersen, Steiro and Saeverot (2015), ~we argue that a crucial step in educating for the unforeseen is to give the students ~the opportunity to solve new problems by themselves, gaining experience that is, as ~far as possible, self-generated and thereby becoming more aware and confident in ~dealing with new situations."